fuel for fire

Also! Recently I’ve been given not one, but two animal rightsey books to read and rant about in this little box right here! How fancy! I can’t wait to sit down and devour them and then discuss. Want to read along with me? Then pick up a copy of Sistah Vegan by Breeze Harper, as well as On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal-Rights Philosophy Down to Earth by Lee Hall. I’ve already started skimming Sistah Vegan, and all I can say is: FINALLY. This is exactly what the skinny bitchy vegan world needs. Lots to discuss, soon soon.

And finally: A reader emailed me asking for some resources for people looking to start small businesses, or just generally be inspired about working with their hands. I could only think of three books I’ve really loved, and one of them is very not vegan. But here they are, and please add your favorites too.

The Boss of You: Everything a Woman [but really it could be anyone] Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain her Own Business. This is a super fun and helpful and awesome book. Most of the examples are things like, “Say you want to start a business making vegan cupcakes.” Yes, please, let’s say that! Read their blog too! This book has a resources chapter with great other books, websites, groups, etc, also.

Paul Hawken’s Growing a Business was hugely, hugely inspirational to me about 8 years ago.

So was, weirdly, Ben & Jerry’s Double Dip: How to Run a Values Led Business and Make Money Too. It’s all about how they kept their kookiness while growing their biz. (It was written long before their hostile takeover.)

I just checked out Lauren’s blog – and looked at the first chapter of her book. I will have to buy it – even though I should have read this 3 years ago, I’m hoping to get some fresh perspectives (and inspiration).

Hi, I’m one of your quiet readers. In reference to animal rights and such, I just read an interesting article written by someone who is otherwise vegan, but makes a case in favor of eating oysters:http://www.slate.com/id/2248998
I’ve thought about it a lot since I’ve read it and am curious to hear what other vegans think about it. If you get a minute, I’d like to hear what you or anyone else on here thinks.

Heya quiet reader!
OK, I skimmed that when it was making the rounds, but just went back and read it for real. A few random thoughts:

I really liked this line:
“And when I pick out my dinner, I don’t ask myself: What do I have to do to remain a vegan? I ask myself: What is the right choice in this situation?”

The dude makes some good points about the “purity pissing contest” that some vegans have turned veganism into, but I can’t get down with his argument.

I suppose in the scheme of things eating oysters isn’t so bad, but he didn’t really make the case for me. What was the evidence, exactly? That we don’t think they feel pain? Like Peter Singer, I’ll err on the side of caution, because, unlike Christopher Cox, I actually did “draw an X through everything marked “Animalia” on the tree of life.” It’s sort of what being vegan means, and though I agree with his reasoning that inconsistency is fine when it makes sense–bee-keeping!–, I just don’t think the idea that just because oysters don’t have a central nervous system we should merrily swallow them whole.

Maybe I’m just being sentimental, but I see a whole ton of difference between a carrot and an oyster. Plus, I don’t feel the lack of oysters in my life–if I did maybe I’d think about it more.

But I’d like to second what one of the comments said: “What matters above all, is that we refrain from the exploitation of creatures who we know certainly are sentient, and those creatures that most likely are.”

Yep.

Also, one of my clients, weirdly enough (hello, small vegan world!), had a great comment that I’ll copy whole:

“I haven’t read all the comments, so my apologies if I missed a post that already covered the following. By the same logic of the author, anyone who is an ethical vegan (i.e., vegan to avoid being responsible for harm to animals) should have no problem eating animals that died of natural causes. No human-imposed suffering there. Let the cows roam free on the range, and when they die of old age, eat ’em. Nevertheless, I could not stomach (literally) such fare. I guess what I’m getting at is that the choice to be vegan cannot simply be deconstructed as a set of logical arguments. You either eat animals (and animal products) or you don’t. That is the gestalt. If one perceives animals as too much like us, a vegan won’t eat them regardless of suffering or not. This is also why humans for the most part throughout history have rejected cannibalism — it’s too close to home. So, thanks all the same, but no oysters for me, please.”